Gill hints at further Manchester United signings

Ferguson has now signed Hernandez and Chris Smalling (GETTY IMAGES)

Manchester United chief executive David Gill has hinted at more signings by the club this summer.

United wasted no time in announcing their newest recruit following Wednesday night's shattering Champions League exit against Bayern Munich, confirming Mexico striker Javier Hernandez will join them in July, providing they can secure a work permit for the 21-year-old.

Hernandez joins Fulham defender Chris Smalling, whose transfer was agreed in January and will also become a member of the Red Devils' squad during the summer.

However, these are not the marquee names United fans are demanding.

There have been fresh rumours of a bid for Karim Benzema, who snubbed United in favour of Real Madrid last summer but has failed to settle at the Bernabeu.

And whilst Gill is not giving much away, it appears more signings are in the pipeline.

"We are planning for next season," Gill told MUTV. "We have already bought Chris Smalling from Fulham and we are very excited about him joining us in July.

"Let's see what happens. Watch this space."

Neither Hernandez nor Smalling can drag United out of their present mess.

Although Sir Alex Ferguson has had something to smile about, it was confined purely to the racecourse after a quite shocking week in which his side's hopes of glory in the Champions League were extinguished and their Premier League title bid suffered a potentially fatal blow.

"We have had to face this many times," said the Scot. "But the nature of our club, it is part of our history. It happens.

"We have five league games to go and we need to win them, starting at Blackburn on Sunday."

After all the subterfuge ahead of the Bayern clash, Ferguson is to be believed this time when he says Wayne Rooney will not make the trip to Ewood Park.

It leaves him to decide whether he should again send record signing Dimitar Berbatov out to fill a lone striking role he is ill-suited to, or draft in youngster Federico Macheda to provide some much-needed support.